Are You a Good Match or Are You Damaging Your Self-Esteem?

By Nik Lemmens

When you find yourself desperate for a job it can often be tempting to go for the method of applying for anything and everything in the hope that your chances of getting a job are now increased because you’ve applied for so many…surely a few will want you? However, this method does not necessarily increase your chances of getting a job; instead it might actually end up increasing the chances of your pride being dented and self-esteem being negatively affected.
 

Everyone will be guilty of applying for the odd job that they’re not really ready or even fully qualified for and there is nothing wrong with taking the odd chance and applying for something where you may not have the required years’ of experience because it’s always possible that you may have other skills that a potential employer will see as relevant to the advertised role.

However, you should try to make sure that you are not merely wasting yours and the recruiter’s time in applying for a job just for the sake of it. Or that you have not been tempted into applying for something that you’re not ready for due to the allure of a good salary or job benefits. This will only result in you receiving countless rejections, embarrassing interviews and serious damage to your self-esteem as you begin to feel like you’re not good enough for any employer.

This is simply not true, you’re just not focusing on the jobs that are most relevant to you and that you have the best chance of getting. You need to spend the majority of your time seeking out available jobs that are asking for the experience and skills that you can provide and then adapt your CV and write specific cover letters for each individual job to give yourself the very best chance of being invited for an interview - at the very least!

You need to stay focused and motivated during a job search and this will only become harder and harder to do the more hours you waste applying for jobs which you, simply put, have no chance of getting. The last thing you need when you’re unemployed is to feel inadequate, under qualified or inexperienced as all these feelings can lead to stress and depression.

Learning to pitch yourself for the right type of job and only focusing on those where you can show relevant skills or experience (no matter how limited that experience is), can help prevent you falling into this negative emotional trap. It also makes it a lot more likely that you’ll get a job that you really like and are more suited to a lot faster, rather than wasting days and weeks applying for and then waiting for responses from unsuitable job applications.